Protect — Golf
Guard-Tex prevents golf blisters without changing your grip, your feel, or your glove fit. The same self-adhering tape trusted by a president — and by weekend golfers who refuse to lose a round to a hot spot on the back nine.
It starts around hole 12. A warm spot on the ring finger of your lead hand, or the base of your trail thumb. By 15, it's raw. By 17, you're adjusting your grip to avoid the pain — and your swing follows your hands right into the rough.
Golf blisters form from repetitive friction between skin and grip. The forces are modest per swing — nothing like a deadlift or a pull-up — but multiply that by 80+ swings and a few dozen practice strokes and the cumulative shear separates skin layers. Add humidity, a damp glove, and grip pressure that increases when you're nervous over a 4-footer, and you have a blister by the turn.
The standard fixes create new problems. Thick bandages change your grip diameter on specific fingers — suddenly your interlock doesn't sit right and your pressure points shift. Athletic tape uses adhesive that sweats off mid-round and pulls at raw skin when you remove it. Moleskin is too bulky under a glove and slides when the glove gets damp. Liquid bandage works until the blister opens, then you're applying stinging chemicals to exposed skin between holes.
You need protection thin enough to preserve club feel, durable enough to last 18 holes, and gentle enough to wrap over existing blisters without making them worse.
Since 1935
Dwight Eisenhower wrapped his golf club grips with GauzTex — the original name for Guard-Tex. He played over 800 rounds during his presidency and trusted a tape that stayed on, came off clean, and never altered his feel for the club. The same product, made the same way, in the same country. Ninety years and counting.
Guard-Tex is a self-adhering gauze tape — it bonds to itself, not to your skin. Each layer is roughly the thickness of two sheets of paper. Wrap two layers on a blister-prone finger and the total added thickness is less than a millimeter. Your grip doesn't change. Your glove fits the same. Your swing stays yours.
But that thin layer absorbs the friction that causes blisters. The gauze distributes shear force across a wider surface area instead of concentrating it on one hot spot. The callus doesn't catch. The skin layers don't separate. Eighteen holes, no blisters — not because you're tougher, but because the physics changed.
"I play four rounds a week and haven't had a blister since I started taping. Two wraps on my ring finger, one on my trail thumb. Takes thirty seconds in the parking lot. Should have done it ten years ago."— Frank M., 12 handicap, Scottsdale
Because there's zero adhesive, you can wrap over existing blisters without dread. The tape bridges over raw skin without touching the wound — no sting, no stuck fibers, no tearing at the blister when you peel it off. Finish your round, peel the tape, and the blister underneath is clean and undisturbed. Ready to heal overnight instead of getting ripped open again at the next tee box.
And when you pull it off after your round, your skin is clean. No adhesive residue, no sticky patches, no hair pulling. Just hands that look like they didn't play 18 holes in 90-degree heat.
| Guard-Tex | Bandages | Athletic Tape | Moleskin | Liquid Bandage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club feel preserved | ✓ Paper-thin | ✗ Bulky | Somewhat | ✗ Thick | ✓ |
| Stays on 18 holes | ✓ | Shifts in glove | Peels when damp | Slides when wet | Cracks at blisters |
| Covers open blisters | ✓ No adhesive on wound | Sticks to wound | Sticks to wound | Sticks to wound | Stings raw skin |
| Glove fit unchanged | ✓ | ✗ | Mostly | ✗ | ✓ |
| Removal pain | Zero | Pulls skin | Pulls hair/skin | Pulls skin | N/A |
| Cost per season | ~$8 (one roll) | $10–20 | $8–15 | $6–12 | $8–15 |
Three minutes in the parking lot. One roll in your bag. No scissors needed.
After your next range session, look at your hands. Where's the redness? For most right-handed golfers, it's the left ring finger (where the grip presses during the swing), the left pinky base (interlock pressure), and the right thumb pad (trail hand pressure on full swings). Those are your target zones.
Tear a strip and wrap 2–3 layers around the affected finger or palm area. Overlap each pass by half. Keep it snug — not tight. You want zero movement but full circulation. The tape tears by hand, no scissors needed.
Pull your glove over the tape as normal. Guard-Tex sits flat and adds barely perceptible thickness — your grip interlock and your pressure distribution stay exactly the same. Most golfers report they forget the tape is there by the third hole.
After your round, unwrap. No adhesive residue on your fingers. No pulled skin. No stuck fibers if you had a blister underneath. Your hands are clean, your skin is intact, and tomorrow's round starts fresh.
Golfer Favorite
Skin-tone beige disappears under your glove. One roll lasts 30–40 rounds. The same tape Eisenhower kept in his golf bag — made in the USA since 1935.
Shop Now"I get blisters every spring when the season starts. This year I taped from round one and played twenty straight rounds without a single hot spot. My wife noticed before I did — I wasn't wincing on the back nine anymore."— Tom D., 18 handicap, suburban Chicago
"The Eisenhower connection sold me, but the zero residue kept me. I play with a Cabretta leather glove and there's never any sticky residue inside it after a round with Guard-Tex underneath."— Richard H., 8 handicap, Palm Beach
"I had a blister open on hole 6 during a member-guest. Wrapped it with Guard-Tex from my bag and played the last 12 holes pain-free. When I peeled it off, the blister was clean — no tape stuck to it, no fibers in the wound. Healed in two days."— Laura K., 14 handicap, Hilton Head
"My pro shop started carrying it after I kept showing it to guys in the locker room. Now half the Saturday morning group uses it. The beige color disappears — nobody even knows you have it on."— Steve W., club member, Minneapolis
Golfers who discover Guard-Tex for blister prevention tend to find uses everywhere else in their life. The same tape wraps club grips for custom feel — add a layer under your grip for thicker diameter without regripping. It protects hands during rowing machine workouts at the gym. Gardeners in the group use it for thorn protection without thick gloves. And the beige color works for fragile skin protection on parents and grandparents who bruise and tear easily.
One roll in the golf bag. One in the garage. One in the medicine cabinet. Same product since 1935.
No. Each layer is roughly the thickness of two sheets of paper. Two layers on a finger adds less than a millimeter of total thickness. Most golfers report they forget it's there after the first few swings — it doesn't change grip pressure, interlock feel, or club feedback.
Yes. Guard-Tex sits flat against the skin and adds minimal bulk. Your glove fits and feels the same. Some golfers use it under the glove on the lead hand and directly on the skin of the trail hand — both work perfectly.
Yes — this is one of its best uses. Zero adhesive means the tape won't stick to the blister or pull at damaged skin during removal. It bridges over the wound, protects it from further friction, and comes off clean without disturbing the healing tissue.
A 30-yard roll lasts roughly 30–40 rounds when wrapping 2–3 fingers per session. That's an entire golf season from a single $8 roll. Most golfers keep it in their bag year-round.
Yes. President Eisenhower wrapped his golf club grips with GauzTex — the original brand name for Guard-Tex. The same self-adhering tape has been manufactured in the USA since 1935. The product he used is the same product available today, made by the same company.
The 3/4-inch width is ideal for finger wraps. It's narrow enough to wrap individual fingers precisely without overlapping onto adjacent fingers, which would affect your interlock or overlap grip. For palm protection, the 1-inch width covers more area per wrap.
Wraps anything. Sticks to nothing. American made since 1935.
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